Ernst Benda

Ernst Benda
4th President of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany
In office 8 December 1971 – 20 December 1983
Preceded by	Gebhard Müller
Succeeded by	Wolfgang Zeidler
6th Federal Minister of the Interior of Germany
In office 2 April 1968 – 21 October 1969
Preceded by	Paul Lücke
Succeeded by	Hans-Dietrich Genscher
Personal details
Born	(1925-01-15)15 January 1925 Berlin, Germany
Died	2 March 2009(2009-03-02) (aged 84) Karlsruhe, Germany
Nationality	Germany
Political party	CDU
Alma mater	Free University of Berlin
Religion	Protestantism

Ernst Benda (15 January 1925 – 2 March 2009) was a German legal scholar, politician and judge. He served as the 4th president of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany from 1971 to 1983. Benda briefly served as Minister of the Interior of Germany (1968 to 1969).

Ernst Benda was born in Berlin, the son of an Engineer. After school he served in the Kriegsmarine from 1943 to 1945. After the war he studied law at the Humboldt University of Berlin in East Berlin, but in 1948 moved to the University of Wisconsin–Madison and then to the Free University of Berlin in West Berlin. 1956 he started to work as a lawyer in Berlin.

From 1946 Benda was member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). From 1954 to 1957 he was member of the Abgeordnetenhaus von Berlin, the parliament of Berlin. 1957 he was elected to the Bundestag, the West German parliament. In 1965 he was involved in bringing significant changes to West Germany's statutes of limitations for murder. Without these changes it would not have been possible to bring charges of murder against erstwhile National Socialists. Since 1967 he was Secretary of State in the German interior ministry and since 1968 Minister of the Interior. 1969 he was appointed as a judge to the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany. From 1971 to 1983 he was president of the court. From 1984 Benda was professor of law at the University of Freiburg.

Awards and honours

1974 Grand Cross of Merit of the Italian Republic

1975 Grand Gold Medal with Ribbon for Services to the Republic of Austria

1983 Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

1974 Honorary Doctorate from the Faculty of Law, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg

1978 Honorary Professor at the University of Trier

1978 Pipe smoker of the year

1987 Heinz-Herbert Karry Prize

External links

• Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (German)

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Interior Ministers of Germany
Imperial Interior Secretaries (1871–1918)	Karl Hofmann Karl Heinrich von Boetticher Arthur von Posadowsky-Wehner Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg Clemens von Delbrück Karl Helfferich Max Wallraf Karl Trimborn
Weimar Republic (1918–1933)	Friedrich Ebert Hugo Preuß Eduard David Erich Koch-Weser Georg Gradnauer Adolf Köster Rudolf Oeser Wilhelm Sollmann Karl Jarres Martin Schiele Otto Geßler Wilhelm Külz Walter von Keudell Carl Severing Joseph Wirth Wilhelm Groener Wilhelm von Gayl Franz Bracht
Nazi Germany (1933–1945)	Wilhelm Frick Heinrich Himmler Paul Giesler Wilhelm Stuckart
German Democratic Republic (1949–1990)	Karl Steinhoff Willi Stoph Karl Maron Friedrich Dickel Lothar Ahrendt Peter-Michael Diestel
Federal Republic of Germany (1949–)	Gustav Heinemann Robert Lehr Gerhard Schröder Hermann Höcherl Paul Lücke Ernst Benda Hans-Dietrich Genscher Werner Maihofer Gerhart Baum Jürgen Schmude Friedrich Zimmermann Wolfgang Schäuble Rudolf Seiters Manfred Kanther Otto Schily Wolfgang Schäuble Thomas de Maizière Hans-Peter Friedrich

Presidents of the German Evangelical Church Assembly
Reinold von Thadden (1949–1964) Richard von Weizsäcker (1964–1970) Gertrud Osterloh (1970–1971) Heinz Zahrnt (1971–1973) Kurt Sontheimer (1973–1975) Helmut Simon (judge) (1975–1977) Klaus von Bismarck (1977–1979) Richard von Weizsäcker (1979–1981) Erhard Eppler (1981–1983) Wolfgang Huber (1983–1985) Eleonore von Rotenhan (1985–1987) Helmut Simon (judge) (1987–1989) Erhard Eppler (1989–1991) Erika Reihlen (1991–1993) Ernst Benda (1993–1995) Rainer Meusel (1995–1997) Barbara Rinke (1997–1999) Martin Dolde (1999–2001) Elisabeth Raiser (2001–2003) Eckhard Nagel (2003–2005) Reinhard Höppner (2005–2007) Karin von Welck (2007–2009) Katrin Göring-Eckardt (2009–2011) Gerhard Robbers (since 2011)